Letter tray kit

ABSTRACT

A letter tray kit is disclosed to include two trays and an accessory set. The trays respectively include a floor panel for lodging papers, two side walls respectively positioned at a left side and a right side of the floor panel, and at least one connection portion at each of the side wall. The accessory set includes at least two supporting members, each of which is coupled with the connection portions of the trays respectively at a top side and a bottom side thereof so as to set one tray vertically apart from the other tray at a predetermined height. Each of the trays is provided with a plurality of retaining grooves at a bottom side thereof for detachably embedding the supporting members.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to stationery, and more particularly to a letter tray kit, which is cost-effective in packaging and is not subject to lose accessories thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Letter trays are one of common stationery in the offices for lodging documents in classifications and partitions. Conventional letter trays can be vertically compactly stacked upon one another so as to save space. A conventional combination mode of the letter trays is to make a tray tightly engaging with a top fringe of another tray. Lately, another combination mode is to install accessories, such as rod members, linkages, etc., between two trays vertically stacked above each other so as to set the two trays apart and to lodge more documents at a tray positioned under the other tray.

[0003] Presently, the letter tray kit is mostly sold by a package of a plurality of trays along with accessories which are used to support between the trays and correspond to the trays in numbers. In order to reduce the size of the package of the letter tray kit, the trays and the accessories are separately packaged. In addition, to prevent the accessories from irregularly moving in the package, manufacturers usually pack the accessories together with a small plastic bag and then attach the small plastic bag on the letter trays to be packed by an adhesive tape. However, the aforementioned packaging procedure will increase the production cost.

[0004] Additionally, although presently there is a letter tray kit composed of a plurality of trays integrally interconnected, the aforementioned letter tray kit, which is composed of trays vertically stacked above one another with supporting members, i.e. accessories, is provided with not only reduced the package size thereof but also randomized the combination modes thereof depending on a user's decision. In other words, although the letter tray kit is provided with the supporting members, the user doesn't have to vertically stack the trays above one another with the supporting members. For examples, if there is sufficient space on desktop and papers are frequently put in and out of the letter trays, the trays can be all together put on the desktop for use. Or if only few papers will be lodged in the letter trays, the user can vertically stack the trays tightly upon one another without the supporting members so as to eliminate redundant space among the trays. Besides, the user can randomly change the combination modes of the letter trays according to working environment and/or the user's requirement. Accordingly, the user has to carefully store the accessories (supporting members), which are not in use, for future use while they are required. However, the accessories are mostly very small such that they are subject to lose without carefulness or be unseen due to a panic and then it's so inconvenient that the letter tray kit is crippled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a letter tray kit, which is provided with a simplified packaging construction so as to be cost-effective.

[0006] Another objective of the present invention is to provide a letter tray kit composed of a plurality of trays, which can be either vertically stacked above one another with supporting members or vertically tightly stacked upon one another without the supporting members. The supporting members can be easily and carefully stored for future use and not subject to lose.

[0007] The foregoing objectives of the present invention are attained by the letter tray kit, which is composed of at least two trays and at least one accessory set. The trays respectively include a floor panel for lodging papers, two side walls respectively positioned at a left side and a right side of the floor panel, and at least one connection portion at each of the side wall. The accessory set includes at least two supporting members, each of which is coupled with the connection portions of the trays respectively at a top end and a bottom end thereof, so as to set one tray vertically apart from the other tray at a predetermined height. Each of the trays is provided with a plurality of retaining grooves at a bottom side thereof for detachably embedding the supporting members.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008]FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0009]FIG. 1A is an enlarged view taken from a circle A of FIG. 1;

[0010]FIG. 2 is a bottom view of a tray of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0011]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a combination mode in accordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another combination mode in accordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0013]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a combination mode in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another combination mode in accordance with the second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 7 is an exploded view of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0016]FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the tray of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a combination mode in accordance with the third preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

[0018]FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another combination mode in accordance with the third preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] Referring to FIG. 1, a first preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a letter tray kit 10, which is composed of two trays 20 and an accessory set 40. The accessory set 40 includes four supporting members 42, wherein only two supporting members are shown in FIG. 1 for illustration.

[0020] The trays 20 are respectively made of plastic injection molding. Each of the trays 20 includes a rectangular floor panel 21 for supporting papers, a rear wall 23 protruded upward from a rear side of the floor panel 21, and two side walls 22 protruded upward from a left side and a right side of the floor panel 21. A storage space 24 is defined among the floor panel 21, the two side walls 22, and the rear wall 23. An opening 25 corresponding to the storage space 24 is defined at a front side of the floor panel 21. The two side walls 22 of the tray 20 are respectively provided with a connection portion 26 at positions close to a front end thereof and a rear end thereof. The connection portion 26 is provided with an upper stacking socket 27 and a lower stacking socket 28 arranged vertically collinearly to the upper stacking socket 27. The upper stacking socket 27 extends downward from a top side of the side wall 22. The lower stacking socket 28 extends upward from a bottom side of the side wall 22 and is not in communication with the upper stacking socket 27. Besides, each of the side walls 22 is provided with a first matching portion 31, embodied as a convex granule, at the top side close to the font end and the rear end thereof and a second matching portion 32, embodied as a concavity, at the bottom side thereof corresponding in location to the first matching portion 31. As shown in FIG. 2, the two side walls 22 are provided with four elongated retaining grooves 33. Each of the retaining grooves 33 is provided with an opening, which faces downward and is provided with a plurality of mounting ledges 34 at a left fringe thereof and a right fringe thereof. Referring to FIG. 1A, the mounting ledges 34 are slightly protruded toward a center of the opening of the retaining groove 33.

[0021] The four rod-like supporting members 42 of the accessory set 40 are made of a metal material and are identical to one another in size. The supporting members 42 correspond to the upper stacking socket 27 and the lower stacking socket 28 in diameter so as to be properly tightly inserted into the two stacking sockets 27 and 28. Each one of the supporting members 42 in length is greater than the two stacking sockets 27 and 28 in total deepness but is smaller than the retaining groove 33. Furthermore, the supporting member 42 can be embedded into the retaining groove 33, as a phantom line shown in FIG. 2, after slightly pushing through the mounting ledge 34 of the retaining groove 33 to get into the retaining groove 33 such that the supporting member 42 is held against the mounting ledge 34 and inside the retaining groove and will not be subject to accidentally fall. Moreover, an appropriate spacing is left between two ends of the supporting member 42 and the retaining groove 33 for a fingertip inserting thereinto to pick up the supporting member 42. It is to be noted that there are many structural types of the retaining groove 33 for easily picking up the supporting member 42. For examples, make two ends of a bottom side of the retaining groove 33 deeper than other positions of the bottom side of the retaining groove 33, and thereby the user can press one end of the retaining groove 33 to make the other end raised. Alternatively, form a larger recess at the center of the retaining groove 33 for two fingertips picking up the supporting member 42.

[0022] While the letter tray kit 10 is in use, a combination mode of the letter tray kit 10 is selected according to the user's decision. One of the combination modes, as shown in FIG. 3, is to stack the two trays 20 a and 20 b above each other with the four supporting members 42 mounted between the two trays 20 a and 20 b. Specifically, place the tray 20 a on the desktop, and respectively insert bottom ends of the supporting members 42 into the upper stacking sockets 27 of the tray 20 a, and then vertically stack the tray 20 b above the tray 20 a by inserting top ends of the supporting members 42 into the lower stacking sockets 28 of the tray 20 b corresponsively. Accordingly, the tray 20 b is positioned at a predetermined height above the tray 20 a such that more papers can be lodged in the tray 20 a and it's more convenient to put in and out the papers.

[0023] If the trays 20 are required to lodge few papers, it's proper to take another combination mode, as shown in FIG. 4, of vertically stacking the tray 20 b upon the tray 20 b tightly without the supporting members 42. In other words, the tray 20 a contacts against and supports the tray 20 b at top sides of the side walls 22 and the rear wall 23 thereof, and the first matching portion 31 (the convex granule) of the side walls 22 of the tray 20 a corresponsively tightly engages with the second matching portion 32 (the concavity) of the tray 20 b such that the two trays 20 a and 20 b are fastened to each other without irregularly moving. In the present combination mode, the papers can be put into the storage space 24 of the tray 20 a either through the opening 25 or by temporarily raising the tray 20 b and then laying down the tray 20 b to tightly engage with the tray 20 a again after the papers are put into the tray 20 a.

[0024] Referring to FIG. 4, while the trays 20 are vertically tightly stacked upon each other without the supporting members 42 or the trays 20 are all together placed on the desktop without vertically stacking upon each other, the supporting members 42, which are temporarily not in use, can be embedded into the retaining grooves 33 of a bottom side of the trays 20 a, 20 b. Accordingly, the supporting members 42 can be compactly and carefully stored so as to be not subject to lose. Besides, if the aforementioned combination mode as shown in FIG. 3 is wanted, it's easy to pick up the supporting members 42 from the retaining grooves 33 and to vertically stack the trays 20 a, 20 b above each other with the supporting members 42 mounted between the trays 20 a, 20 b.

[0025] Additionally, when manufacturers pack the letter tray kit 10, the supporting members of the accessory set 40 will not be necessarily additionally packaged or fastened by adhesives but directly embedded into the retaining grooves 33 of the trays, and then put the trays into package boxes or bags such that the packaging procedure is completed. Compared with a conventional packaging procedure of a conventional letter tray kit, the packaging procedure of the present invention is simplified and cost-effective.

[0026] Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a second preferred embodiment of the present invention shows that the letter tray kit 50 is composed of three trays 52 and two accessory sets 56 respectively including four supporting members 54. The three trays 52 can be vertically stacked above one another with the two accessory sets 56 mounted therebetween, as shown in FIG. 5. Alternatively, two of the trays 52 are vertically stacked upon each other, and then either the other tray is vertically stacked above the two trays with one of the accessory sets 56 as shown in FIG. 6, or the three trays 52 are vertically tightly stacked upon one another, or the like. Likewise, each of the trays 52 is provided with a plurality of the retaining grooves (not shown) at the bottom side and the supporting members 54 not in use can be embedded into and stored in the retaining grooves.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 7, a third preferred embodiment of the present invention shows that the letter tray kit 60 is composed of two trays 70 and two accessory sets 80 a and 80 b. The difference between the present embodiment and the foregoing embodiments lies in that each of the trays 70 is provided with eight elongated retaining grooves 72 a and 72 b, as shown in FIG. 8, wherein the retaining grooves 72 a are shorter in length than the retaining grooves 72 b. Each of the accessory sets 80 a and 80 b includes four rod-like supporting members 82 a (82 b), which are identical to each other in length. However, the supporting members 82 a are shorter than the supporting members 82 b in length. Accordingly, the user can properly select one of the accessory sets 80 a and 80 b to be interconnected with the trays 70 according to a predetermined quantity of papers lodging on the trays 70. Specifically, the trays 70 can be vertically stacked above each other with the supporting members 80 a (shorter) mounted therebetween and then the supporting members 80 b (longer) not in use can be embedded into the retaining grooves 72 b (longer), as shown in FIG. 9, and alternatively, the trays 70 can be vertically stacked above each other with the supporting members 80 b (longer) mounted therebetween and then the supporting members 80 a (shorter) not in use can be embedded into the retaining grooves 72 a (shorter), as shown in FIG. 10.

[0028] Finally, it is to be noted that the supporting members are though rod-like in the foregoing embodiments of the present invention, but the supporting members are not definitely rod-like. For examples, the supporting members can be panel-shaped, and accordingly, the connection portion will be corresponsively thin matching sockets for the supporting members inserted thereinto such that the trays are vertically stably stacked above each other with at least two supporting members mounted between the trays. Additionally, the retaining grooves can be provided with flat bottoms for the pane-shaped supporting members embedded thereinto, and thereby the objectives of the present invention are also achieved. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A letter tray kit comprising: at least two trays, wherein each of said trays includes a floor panel provided at a bottom side thereof with a plurality of retaining grooves, and two side walls disposed at a left side and a right side of said floor panel respectively and having at least one connection portion respectively; and at least one accessory set, wherein said accessory set includes at least two supporting members that are either detachably embedded into said retaining grooves of said tray or mounted between two said trays to vertically space said trays at a predetermined height by means of each of said supporting members is coupled with said connection portions of two said trays at a top end and a bottom end thereof respectively.
 2. The letter tray kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said accessory set comprises at least four said supporting members which are rod-like; wherein each of said side walls is provided with one said connection portion respectively at a front end and a rear end thereof, said connection portion having an upper stacking socket and a lower stacking socket corresponding in location to said upper stacking socket, said upper stacking socket extending downward from a top side of said side wall, said lower stacking socket extending upward from a bottom side of said side wall and not communicating with said upper stacking socket; wherein while said accessory set mounted between said two trays, each of said supporting members has the bottom end inserted into said upper stacking socket of one of said two trays and the top end inserted into said lower stacking socket of the other said tray; wherein each of said retaining grooves is elongated for embedding one of said supporting members.
 3. The letter tray kit as defined in claim 2, wherein each of said retaining grooves is respectively provided with at least one mounting ledge at two elongated sides of an opening thereof, whereby said supporting members embedded into said retaining grooves are not subject to accidentally fall; wherein while each of said supporting members is embedded into one of said retaining groove, the two ends of said supporting member and two ends of said retaining groove are provided with a spacing therebetween.
 4. The letter tray kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said accessory set is less in numbers than said trays by one; wherein said retaining grooves are identical to said supporting members in numbers; wherein said supporting members are respectively embedded into one of said retaining groove.
 5. The letter tray kit as defined in claim 1, wherein said accessory sets are as twice as many as said trays minus one and comprises said supporting members having two different sizes identical to each other in numbers for setting one of said trays vertically apart from the other at a predetermined height; wherein said retaining grooves are twice as many as said supporting members of each said accessory set and are provided with two different sizes identical to each other in numbers for embedding said supporting members having two different sizes.
 6. The letter tray kit as defined in claim 1, wherein each said tray is provided with at least one first matching portion at a top side of each said side wall and at least one second matching portion at a bottom side of each side wall; wherein each said tray can be vertically tightly stacked upon the other said tray by engaging said first matching portion with said second matching portion. 